Conduit.



No. 709,504. Patented Sept. 23, I902.

W. L. MGGOWAN.

GONDUIT.

(Appli ation filed Feb. 8, 1902.)

(No Model.)

UNITED Snares WILLIAM L. MCGOWAN, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

CONDUlT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 709,504, datedSeptember 23, 1902.

Application filed February 8, 1902. Serial No. 93,120. (No model.)

To coZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM L. MoGoWAN, of the city and county ofPhiladelphia, State of Pennsylvania, have invented an Improvement inConduits, of which the following is a specification.

Myinvention relates to conduits; and it consists of the improvementswhich are fully set forth in the following specification and are shownin the accompanying drawings.

More particularly my invention relates to that class of conduits made upof a series of short sections united together at abutting ends to form acontinuous conduit. Usually such sections are made of terra-cotta orsome equivalent material and are provided with internal longitudinalpartitions or walls dividing the interior of the conduit into a seriesof compartments adapted to receive electriccables.Suchconduitsareusuallyformed by uniting the sections together bydowelpins and enveloping the joint in concrete or cement. It frequentlyhappens in the laying of such conduits that one section must be arrangedmore or less out of alinement with another to form a bend or angle inthe conduit to avoid obstructions. In such cases the dowel-pins cannotbe conveniently used, and the whole strain comes upon the cement orconcrete joint, and if for any cause the conduit is undermined rupturefrequently occurs. If the sections are arranged at a slight angle withone another to form a bend or angle in the conduit, a gap oropeningisformed at one side, and to avoid this it is customary to chip away theends of thesections to form a tight fit. This involves time and labor,and care is necessary to make a tight joint.

It is the object of my invention to provide specially-constructedsections by which bends or angles may be formed in the conduit and bywhich a strong and tight union may be formed between abutting sectionswithout the use of dowel-pins. For this purpose I provide the end of onesection with a projection and the other end of the abutting section witha complementary recess to receive the projection of the first sectionand so construct the complementary projection and recess that thehighest point of the projection and the lowest point of the recess areat relatively difierent distances from the median line of thecorresponding section, whereby one section is caused to assume anangular direction with reference to the other.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan View ofoftheconduitembodyingmyinvention. Fig. 2 is a plan view, enlarged, ofone of the sections of the form shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an endelevation of a section of the form shown in Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a planview of the conduit with part in horizontal section, showing a differentform of the sections.

A is the outer tubular body. It is provided with longitudinal walls orpartitions C, dividing it internally into a series of longitudinalcable-compartments B. Adjacent sections are provided with more or lesscurved or angular ends D D, complementary one to another, but soarranged that when the projecting curved or angular end D of one sectionis fitted into the complementary recessed curved or angular end D of theother section one section will assume an angular inclination withreference to the other.

In practice each section may be provided with the projecting curved orangular end D at one extremity and with the complementary recessedcurved orangular end D at the other.

In my preferred construction the projecting curved or angular end D istermed by ex tending the internal partitions 0 beyond the end F of theouter body, and the recessed, curved, or angular end D is formed byabbreviating or shortening the internal partitions within the end G toan extent corresponding with their extension beyond the end F to formthe complementary projection D. By these means the end of one section isprovided with a projection which fits into and is surrounded by thesocket in the other section, so that not only is the angular inclinationof one section with reference to the next obtained, but a strong jointis provided which is capable of withstandingtransverse strains. Thisjoint may be packed with cement or with concrete I in the usual manner.

The angular inclination of one section with reference to another isobtained by so arranging the projection D of one section with referenceto the recess D of the other section that ICO the highest point of theprojection and the Either the lowest point of the recess or the highestpoint of the projection may be on the median line, but both must not be.

In the construction shown in Figs. land 2 the ends of the outer body Aare formed with curved extremities F G, bounded by arcs described by theradius R. The projection D and recess D are also curved, and it will beobserved that while the curvature of the recess D is complementary tothe curvature of the projection Dt'. e., is bounded by an equal arc ofthe same curvature--the center from which it is described is not at thesame distance from the median line of the section as the center fromwhich the projection D is described, and consequently when a sectionhaving a recess corresponding with D of Fig. 2 is fitted to a sectionhaving a projection corresponding with D, Fig. 2, it will assume anangular position with reference to the first section, as shown inFig. 1. In the particular construction shown the projection D isdescribed by the radius R from a center out of the median line, andconsequently the highest point of the projection is also out of themedian line.

In the construction shown in Fig. 4 the projection D is formed byextending the inner partition-walls beyond the end F of the outer bodyand the recess D by abbreviating or shortening the partition-wallswithin the end G, the ends of the walls being tapered or inclined, buthere, as in the construction shown in Figs. 1 and 2, either the highestpoint of the projection D or the lowest point of the recess D must bedifferently disposed with reference to the median line. In the jointshown in Fig. 4 the high point of the projection is on the median line,while the low point of the recess is out of the median line.

In some cases the projection of the partition-walls, if they are used,may be omitted, and with the curved ends F and G, as shown in Fig. 2, acurved projection and a complementary curved recess will he f0rmed,whichwill engage one with the other and lock the sections against lateraldisplacement, while affording the same capacity of angular arrangementof one section with reference to the other. It will be observed that inthe construction shown in Fig. 2 the center from which the radius R isstruck is out of the median line. These curved faces F and G form,respectively, aslight projection and recess on the ends of the sectionrespectively beyond and within the transverse plane intersecting thefour corners.

It will be observed that the sections may be so fitted together that theangular inclination of one with reference to the other may be obtainedin any of the four different directions. If one of the angular sectionsA (shown in Fig. 1) were turned over, its inclination from the medianline would be on the opposite side, and so if it were turned throughninety degrees its inclination would be either up or down. Thesesections may thus be used in laying conduits to avoid obstructionswherever they may be found.

The details of construction shown may be varied without departing fromthe invention.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is asfollows:

1. A conduit-section consisting of a tubular body having one endprovided with a projection and the other end with a complementaryrecess, the highest point of the projection and the lowest point of therecess being located at different distances from the median line of thetubular body.

2. A conduit-section consisting of a tubular body having an end providedwith a projection the highest point of which is out of the median lineof the body.

3. A conduit-section consisting of a tubular body having an end providedwith a recess the lowest point of which is out of the median line of thebody.

4. A conduit-section consisting of a tubular outer body havinglongitudinal partitions or walls dividing it internally into a series oflongitudinal ducts,said partition-walls at one end being extended beyondthe ends of the walls of the outer body to form a projection composed ofsaid partitions, the highest point of said projection being out of themedian line of the tubular body.

5. A conduit-section consisting ofa tubular outer body havinglongitudinal partitions or walls dividing it internally into a series oflongitudinal ducts, said partition-Walls at one end being abbreviated orterminated within the outer body at a distance from the end thereof, toform a recess between the ends of the partition and the ends of theouter body, the lowest point of said recess being out of the median lineof the tubular body.

6. A conduit composed of tubular sections, the end of one section beingprovided with a projection and the end of the adjacent section having acomplementary recess in which the projection of the other section fits,the highest point of the projection and the lowest point of the recessbeing relatively a different distance from the median line of thesections, whereby one section is caused to assume an angular inclinationwith reference to the other.

In testimony of which invention I have hereunto set my hand.

WM. L. MOGOWAN. Witnesses:

ELIAS NUSBAUM, ERNEST HOWARD HUNTER.

